In this episode of The Media Copilot, Pete Pachal talks with Mark Howard, Chief Operating Officer at Time, about how a century-old newsroom is adapting to a world where readers increasingly turn to AI systems for information.

Howard explains how Time approached AI not as a passing trend but as a shift in how journalism will be discovered and consumed. He walks through the decisions behind partnering with AI companies, the work required to safeguard Time’s archive, and how the Time AI Agent grew out of experiments with summaries, translations, and audio briefings.

The conversation offers a clear look at the practical choices a legacy media brand faces when it tries to stay trusted in new formats without compromising the reporting that built its reputation.

What we cover in this episode

• How Time decided to negotiate with AI companies instead of taking an adversarial stance

• The behind-the-scenes systems created to protect IP and track bot activity

• The evolution from Person of the Year experiments to daily AI audio briefings to the Time AI Agent

• Why the agent is grounded only in Time’s archive and what that means for accuracy and trust

• How Time is approaching AI marketplaces, enterprise licensing, and the agent to agent web

• What this shift means for the newsroom, editorial workflows, and audience relationships

Learn more Mark Howard on Time https://time.com/author/mark-howard

The Story Behind the TIME AI Agent https://time.com/7332572/the-story-behind-the-time-ai-agent

Mark on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdhoward

Mark on X https://x.com/markdhoward 

This post was drafted with AI and then carefully edited by Media Copilot editors.

📩 Enjoyed this episode?

Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube?  Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel. 

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele MussoEdited by the Musso Media Team 

Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved. © AnyWho Media 2025